A Man's Pride
by marchbutterfly
Summary: The unthinkable happens to Sanji, and the aftermath leaves him a broken man. Despite the best efforts of the crew to raise his spirits, they see the once powerful "Black Leg" deteriorating before their eyes.


As soon as the marine's heavy metal club had made contact with his leg, Sanji had felt his bones shatter. It wasn't so much the pain that had grounded him, but the shock. Of all the times that Sanji had injured his precious legs, it had never been this severe. A facture here, a sprain there, but never this…this was bad. He took a quick glimpse at his leg and saw that it was lying limp and shapeless.

To make matters worse, the marine that he was fighting was a giant. The man laughed spitefully as he swung his spiked club, leaving a hole in Sanji's thigh that was the size of a regular man's fist. The pain came on all at once, but was no time to scream. Sanji rolled quickly, narrowly escaping a would-be fatal blow. Sanji shot a murderous glare at the marine who nonchalantly adjusted his hat and claimed that "the pirate scum would never prevail over the absolute justice of the navy". It was too bad that the man had caught him off guard; he would have had no trouble taking the man on if he hadn't have lost the use of his leg. There was no way he could fight like this. He knew that he needed to remove himself from the situation as soon as possible. As much as the thought of running hurt his pride, he knew that he would be more of a help to his crew alive then dead. He refused to give up his dreams of all blue on a tiny insignificant island such as this one.

…

Across the island, the other members of the Straw Hat Crew were enjoying a well-deserved vacation. After the fighting at Punk Hazard had ended, they had come across a tiny, uninhabited summer island and had decided to stay a few days to replenish themselves. Nami and Robin were chatting happily to themselves, and enjoying the weather while Brook strummed happily on his guitar. Luffy, Franky, Chopper and Ussopp had built a small raft and were fishing close to shore. Each was sure to keep a close eye on their captain, pulling him back every time he got too close to the water. Zoro had propped himself up on a boulder and was napping in his normal position, his katanas close at hand.

Not long after they had arrived on the island, Sanji had said that he wanted to go into the forest to search for some new ingredients to use in his cooking. Nami insisted that he take someone with him just in case, and at first he had intended to ask Usopp, but the man was having so much fun fooling around with the others that he decided not to disturb him. Actually, the only person who was available to go with him was the swordsman, but Sanji wasn't in the mood to deal with his idiocy, and so he went alone, despite Nami's wishes.

After getting pretty deep into the forest, Sanji began to notice signs that they were not the only ones on the island. He was immediately on his guard and soon discovered that the other shore of the island was actually home to a small marine outpost. He didn't think that there were too many marines working there, however, he noted that there was a giant among their ranks. Carefully, he surveyed the area to report back to the crew. "Shit". It seemed like they were going to have to cut their vacation short.

As he was leaving to tell the crew, Sanji sensed that he had been discovered—it was the giant. Alarmed, Sanji turned to look at the man again. He was dangerous, and not just because of his size. The marine was emitting a powerful aura. Sanji could tell that his haki was very powerful, and that he must be the captain.

At his command, the marines started rushing into the forest after Sanji. He was pissed that he had been found, but choose to fight them there, so as not to bring trouble to his crewmates. The marines were easy to defeat, especially because of their small numbers, but it was taking on all those men at once that had been Sanji's downfall. As he was finishing his fight with the last of the men, he could feel the Captain's presence approaching and raised his leg to attack. This was his second mistake. Sanji had underestimated the captain due to his size. Somehow he was able to move with astonishing speed, and as Sanji turned to attack him he was surprised to see the man already on top of him, his club blackened with haki and bearing down on his leg. There was no time to react. The sound of the cook's leg being destroyed seemed to echo throughout the forest.

…

An hour had passed and Sanji was barely clinging to consciousness. At some point he had realized that escape was futile; he could not skywalk with one leg, and running certainly was not an option. He resigned himself to stay and face the giant marine head on, knowing the risk he would be taking. He regretted his decision not to take anyone along with him when he headed into the forest. If he had, he wouldn't be in this situation.

He leapt from side to side on his good leg, trying to avoid the marine's club and landing very few hits himself. Fighting like this was exhausting; his normal stamina had been depleted by his injury. So far he had managed not to get hit by the club again, but he was losing a lot of blood from the wound on his leg, and he knew he wouldn't be able to fight for much longer. As the battle raged on, the men moved through the dense forest destroying trees and scattering the wildlife. Amid the activity, Sanji thought he was beginning to hear the sound of the ocean faintly in the distance and prayed silently to himself that someone would come to help him. His vision was beginning to get fuzzy and he wasn't sure how much longer he could go on.

Back on the beach, Zoro's eyes flew open as his haki alerted him to something going on nearby. "Luffy!" he shouted urgently. "Do you feel th—"

_THUD_

None of the crew could react as they saw what came flying over the treetops and came crashing down onto the beach. At first there was a heavy silence as they gaped at Sanji's battered body lying in a heap on the sand. Then, all at once, there was a flurry of activity all around. Luffy had already shot himself back onto the shore and into the forest behind Zoro to track down his attacker. Nami and Chopper were shouting commands to ready the ship and to get Sanji down to the infirmary. As Brook and Ussopp picked up his broken body and carried him to the ship, Chopper ran alongside them, trying to assess the damage.

"Who could have done this to him! He's lost too much blood! He's going to need a transfusion. There are also a lot of broken ribs and his leg…oh no".

Dark realization came to the little doctor as he continued to inspect his patient. Usually when one of the monster trio was hurt, their wounds were grave but not immediately life threatening. Their bodies had become so strong from all of their previous fights that they were incredibly resistant to the worst types of injuries. Right away Chopper knew that something was very wrong. He had not seen someone in so bad a condition since Zoro at Thriller Bark.

Sanji's mind was swimming. The last thing he remembered was fighting the giant marine and then sudden and total darkness. He began to cough and move, trying his best not to lose consciousness again. "You're going to be okay" Chopper said, trying to calm the man down. "We're taking you back to the ship now". But Sanji would not lay still. His body was screaming with the pain from the last club hit and he had a sickeningly numb feeling from his waist down. He had been in substantial pain before, but this was different. Something was very wrong.

Suddenly Sanji was panicked. "What happened?" he groaned weakly. "Where is the marine? I'm sorry that I'm causing you all so much trouble, I just…Chopper? I can't feel my leg". The reindeer made a strangled noise and looked away. That made the cook even more uneasy.

"You can fix it right"? No response. Sanji's eyes widened.

"What's going to happen to my leg..."? His voice was a harsh whisper, and as scared as he was to hear the response, he forced himself to look the doctor in the eye.

Tears welled in Chopper's eyes at the look of defeat that was beginning to creep into his friend's eyes. He shook his head mournfully. For all the times that Sanji had saved him in the past, the doctor was going to be unable to help him the one time that he needed it the most. He took a deep breath before beginning.

"It's not good Sanji. From the looks of things, I'm going to have to take it…"

That was the first time any of them had seen Sanji cry.

…

Back in the forest, Luffy and Zoro were taking on Sanji's attacker in full force. They had found him standing amid the trees, his club still swung over his shoulder like a baseball bat, chuckling darkly to himself. When he saw them, he smiled.

"How did you Strawhats like that? I'd say that was a solid home-run"! Luffy had lost his mind at that. Both he and Zoro had gone at the man at the same time, concentrating all their rage into their attacks. The marine defended and quickly became serious.

"You damn pirates think that you are so great. You think that you sail for freedom and riches, but who will protect the freedom of the people you terrorize? All you do is destroy! I will bring you to justice"! With that the giant swung his club again aiming directly for the Strawhats. The marine was strong, but in the end Luffy and Zoro's impeccable teamwork was what defeated him. Zoro cut the steel club as it approached him and it fell to the ground in pieces. As Zoro was doing his thing, Luffy was setting up his elephant gun. With all the rage he could gather in his fist, we swung at the marine, hitting him square in the face and sending him flying into the depths of the forest.

After the battle, Luffy and Zoro raced back to the ship. True to his form, Luffy burst through the doors of the infirmary eager to see his friend. He was stopped however, by Robin who informed him that Chopper had just taken him into surgery.

"What kind of surgery?" Luffy asked nervously. The others crewmates in the room bowed their heads, unable to look their captain in the eye. Robin had to explain. "Captain-san" she began gently. "It appears that when Cook-san was in the forest, he sustained very bad injuries to his leg. They are so bad that Doctor-san believes that he will have to remove Cook-san's leg to save his life".

There was a tense silence. Luffy swayed uneasily for a moment, seeming to lose his resolve. Then suddenly, he clenched his fists decisively. A fierce look of conviction came over him, and without a second thought he smashed through the doors to the operating room. Chopper was startled, and attempted to say something to Luffy, but stopped when he saw the dangerous look in his eyes.

"CHOPPER!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs. "YOU WILL NOT CUT OFF SANJI'S LEG"!


End file.
